Tony Blair failed to see Iran threat, Lord Turnbull tells inquiry

The Times: Tony Blair was so committed to overthrowing Saddam Hussein that he failed to foresee that it could make the Middle East more dangerous by “vastly” increasing the power of Iran, his most senior civil servant said yesterday.
The Times

David Brown

Tony Blair was so committed to overthrowing Saddam Hussein that he failed to foresee that it could make the Middle East more dangerous by “vastly” increasing the power of Iran, his most senior civil servant said yesterday.

Lord Turnbull told the Iraq inquiry: “The question that strikes me, entirely with hindsight, is how did you improve regional stability by kicking out Saddam Hussein but vastly increasing the power of Iran by putting 15 million Shias in charge of the next-door country and have we actually ended up with a more dangerous region?”

He said that by the time he started as Cabinet Secretary in 2002, the basic strategy on Iraq was in place and there was little room to challenge.